LaGuardia Airport: 4 Hour Layover Pizza Run

On a recent layover in LaGuardia Airport, I had nearly 4 hours to kill between flights. It was lunch time and I hate spending time in airports. It’s a boring waste of time to just sit around. So is a 4 hour LGA layover long enough to get some New York Pizza? Yes it is, and here’s how to do it. This isn’t my normal kinda boring travel review, but that’s ok.

While I don’t think 4 hours is enough time to get to Brooklyn or Manhattan, the Q70 bus is easy to use to get to Jackson Heights station in Queens. Now I know Queens isn’t known for it’s pizza, but pizza in queens is still better than what I can get at home. Queens is still NYC so I’m going to count it as getting a slice of NY pizza while on a LGA layover. How long does this take? My whole trip was about 2 hours from leaving LGA, getting pizza, and back through security at LGA.

The process is simple, leave LGA, get on the Q70 bus, get off at Jackson Heights, walk to a pizza place. Then just reverse the process. My only worry was getting stuck in traffic around LaGuardia. With the ongoing construction it can be a bit of a mess. This is also pretty much the same process as someone would use to get to Manhattan from LGA. Take the Q70 bus to Jackson Heights then the subway into the city.

Anyway, lets get into it.

1 :LaGuardia Airport: 4 Hour Layover Pizza Run

     1.1: Exiting LaGuardia

     1.2: Buy a Bus Ticket and MetroCard

     1.3: Q70 Bus to Jackson Heights

     1.4: Jackson Heights Pizza Shops

     1.5: Jackson Heights to LGA Q70 Bus

     1.6: LGA C Terminal Arrival

     1.7: Final Thoughts

Exiting LaGuardia

Ok, this part is super easy. Just walk out of the airport, follow the signs for ground transportation. This is from the C Terminal here at LGA. I was flying on Delta and arrived here at C.

Buy a Bus Ticket and MetroCard

Update: As of May 1, 2022 the Q70 bus is now free and no ticket is required!

So with the new OMNY system on NYC Transit, you don’t need to buy a ticket before boarding a bus. If you have a contactless credit card, you can just tap your card at the payment reader.

You can still buy and pay with a metro card, but you no longer need to get one. I was lucky, on the day I was visiting, the Q70 was free to ride in both directions. Normally this costs $2.75, there’s an additional $1 charge if you need to buy a new metro card.

Update: As of May 1, 2022 the Q70 bus is now free and no ticket is required!

If you need to buy a metro card, there are plenty of machines in the area to purchase or refill them.

Q70 Bus to Jackson Heights

The Q70 arrived at LaGuardia and I hopped onboard. The Q70 is an SBS route. This means that the stops are far apart and it can use special lanes to try and avoid traffic. It works ok, obviously a train is better, but there are no trains to LGA, yet.

Onboard and on the way to Jackson Heights.

There are luggage racks on the bus as this route is almost exclusively used for getting to and from LGA. Easy to use with carry on sized luggage. You only ride one stop to Jackson Heights, this bus ride took about 10 minutes from pickup to drop-off.

Jackson Heights Pizza Shops

Jackson Heights is a large hub stop in Queens that can be used to get to Manhattan or Long Island. The neighborhood is somewhat suburban for New York but easily walkable to get to the shops and restaurants. There are several Pizza places within a 5 minute walk of Jackson Heights.

A quick NYC style slice. Actually 2 slices, one plain cheese and a peperoni. This is classic NY pizza, served on crappy paper plates with a can of coke. This was the perfect meal during my LGA layover. Not the best pizza I’ve ever had, but still better than anything I can get at home.

Jackson Heights to LGA Q70 Bus

After my slice I walked back to Jackson Heights. The Q70 bus picks up from under a covered area just outside of the station. There is a special area for the Q70 to stop at, easy to find and well marked with Q70 LaGuardia Link signage.

The bus arrived soon after I did. These busses run on a pretty short head time. Rarely does it take more than 10 minutes for another one to arrive.

Onboard the Q70 again and heading to LGA. It’s about 3:00pm on a Monday and the loads on the bus are pretty light. Traffic also isn’t bad and the return trip from Jackson Heights to LGA took about 10 minutes.

LGA C Terminal Arrival

The D Terminal at LGA is seriously under construction so the drop off area outside is closed. So I got off at the C Terminal and then walked over to D where My next flight is departing from.

Final Thoughts

With a 4 hour layover at LGA, getting real NY pizza is easy. Take the Q70 bus to Jackson Heights, get a slice, then take the bus back to the airport. The whole process takes about 2 hours from leaving the airport to getting back through security. This is slightly dependent on traffic but is a good estimate for a leisurely lunch.

The Q70 bus costs $2.75 each direction. So $5.50 for the bus ride. My two slices of pizza and a coke was $6.75 then $1.25 for a tip. So in total, this whole excursion would cost $13.50. I was really lucky that the Q70 was free to ride when I was there so my total cost was just the cost of pizza and tip.

In the end, I’d gladly do this again. It’s a fun way to break up the trip. I really don’t like sitting in airports and so 4 hours in LGA sounds miserable. Why not get a little local lunch. Sure it’s queens pizza but it’s still pretty great. Final thoughts, yes, go get a slice if you have a long LGA layover.